Top 2005 Stories

Cincinnati Change believes we can change Cincinnati NOW. We started in 1988 and where incorporated in 2005. The Enquirer lists their top local stories and they limit it to 5. Here are Cincinnati Changes top local stories for 2005.

I - The Hurricanes

Katrina, Rita and Wilma should be the top story on everyone A list, we have over 800 people from the affected areas living in greater Cincinnati now. What else has affected, negatively, 25 million Americans, except for number 2.

What can we say except we are going to help 100,000 people affected by creating a fast response infrastructure for relief and rebuilding. This enterprise is being developed so that when this happens again we can be their to help rebuild based on the model we are developing in Cincinnati in 2006 in cooperation with Port Arthur, Texas where Rita visited for 12 hours.

II - The War

The War on Terrorism and the hope for Democracy is number 2. It will have even a longer term affect on us as citizens of the United States of America. We have spent 8 trillion dollars since September 11th 2001 and have a president who says, "I see a global terrorist movement that exploits Islam in the service of radical political aims -- a vision in which books are burned, and women are oppressed, and all dissent is crushed.

Terrorist operatives conduct their campaign of murder with a set of declared and specific goals -- to de-moralize free nations, to drive us out of the Middle East, to spread an empire of fear across that region, and to wage a perpetual war against America and our friends. These terrorists view the world as a giant battlefield -- and they seek to attack us wherever they can."

Our nation stands as a shining example to all the world of freedom and democracy, a unique honor that comes with a responsibility to lead. 2005 showed we are in the business of nation building. We can and have to win the War on Terror. We believe the 2006 has to be a transition year. The year 2005 showed us that we need to serve our troops better and support true freedom movements around the world.

Cincinnati Change believes in America should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world. We want to serve our people better and we want to do it smart with all the Third Frontier resources available.

III - The New Mayor

The election of Mark Mallory as Mayor. New leadership brings with it a chance to improve the city. He can use the assets of the city which are more than a billion dollars to make fundamental changes in the lives of the residents of the city. He can coordinate the leadership in the region to create a Cincinnati lifestyle that benefits everyone in the region. At Cincinnati Change we know they have the tools to deal with the problems of the city and look forward to this council to have the will to use tem to benefit the residents of the city.

Cincinnati Change and its minority small business founders are going to propose to them that they work with the mayor and his designated City Manager on a program for development that creates or retains over 50,000 jobs for Cincinnatians (who by the way are residents of Hamilton County and citizens in the state of Ohio) and sustains 12,000 low to moderate income homes while building 8,000 market rate homes in the city.

IV - The New City Council of Cincinnati

After the election of a City Council that got down to business right away. They passed a budget and set the stage for a consensus to develop on how we define public safety and go about achieving it when City Council Law & Public Safety Committee reviewed the shooting incident that occurred on Christmas Eve. This incident in Roselawn which resulted in the death of one 19 year old Chanel Jordan, who was coming to pick her brother up and was not at the "dance", and the wounding of another youth.

Cincinnati Councilman Cecil Thomas, chair of the Committee, has said it was a productive meeting, but now a holistic approach is needed to attack the problem, with council, police and parents working together. A number of community members spoke about the violence in the community and the need to take action against the problem. Cincinnati Change has declared 2006 as the year of Peace In the Hood along with Jobs in the Hood.

V - UC

The firing of Bob Huggins is cause for cheer, if it is part of cleaning up University of Cincinnati sport program into a program that treats all sports equally and increases their graduation. We believe that it should be the most important goal of all Division I schools. Although, at first, UC may not win tournaments, but they have improved not only the ethical standards of their sports program 100%. They have set a bar for the region to do no less.

Little known fact - the University of Cincinnati was the second-oldest and second-largest municipal university in the country. It became one of Ohio's state universities in 19977.

VI - Race

In 2005 racial division has not been reduced under previous leadership, but we have hope for 2006. We still had to much disconnect between the African American and poor in Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Police Department even with the Department of Justice Memorandum of Understanding (DOJ) and the Collaborative Agreement (CA). The Big story is the change in leadership of the FOP and the coming together of the African American community around the issue race and crime.

The image of police officers and the city as a whole is still recovering from race riots that erupted in April 2001, following the shooting death of an unarmed black man who ran from a white police officer trying and subsequent police slow down. The perception that emerged has been said to have embarrassed Specialist Kathy Harrell, the first woman elected president of Queen City Lodge No. 69 of the Fraternal Order of Police.

"The whole city got a black eye from it," she said in an interview. "But did we grow from it? Yes. Have we proven we're still an excellent city? Yes. Are there concerns that have to be dealt with? Definitely." We hope to work with her and other interested parties who believe that we can have Peace in the Hood along with Jobs in the Hood.

VII - Third Frontier

Ohio Governor Bob Taft pleas guilty to crime. This was a first for a sitting Ohio governor who has the lowest poll rating of any governor in polling history. Yet he has a chance during this his last year in office to make changes in Ohio's technology landscape for the future that will overshadow his past. He has the resources at hand in Ohioians passed his Third Frontier Program. For those ready it the program offers a chance to growth businesses, like the ones we currently partner with, into major global companies using Third Frontier funding.

VIII - Civic Pride

WHO-DEY: The Bengals making the playoffs is important for a simple thing that will make a big difference in 2006, increased civic pride. The bengals could be a central point of this pride campaign driven by Cincinnati Change to met the goals that are defined by the residents of the city in 2006 through an electronic village which will be in operation on our birthday June 19th 2006.

IX - The gowth of the Internet and Bloggers

The internet has 60 million home pages and over a billion possiable conncetions currently. The growth in 2005 of the blogsphere in the big news. A blog is a website in which hypertext and images (and links to video, audio and other files) are posted on a regular basis and in generally reverse chronological order. The term is a shortened form of weblog. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called "blogging". Individual articles on a blog are called "blog posts," "posts," or "entries". A person who posts these entries is called a "blogger".

Many bloggers support the Open Source movement. The free speech nature of its technology has helped blogging to have a social impact. Blogging makes it easy for employees to irritate their bosses, and a number have been fired. many say blogs changed the election of the Mayor in Cincinnati.

Open Source Politics, or the ability of people to participate more directly in politics, is reframing terms of debate (see George Lakoff). Many bloggers differentiate themselves from the mainstream media, while others are members of that media working through a different channel. Some institutions see blogging as a means of "getting around the filter" and pushing messages directly to the public.

An example of this growth is Wikipedia, in 2005 it was 4 years old online based on a very radical idea, the realization of the dreams most of us have always had for what the Internet can and should become. Thousands of people, all over the world, from all cultures, working together in harmony to freely share clear, factual, unbiased information… a simple and pure desire to make the world a better place. In 2005, it achieved 6-fold growth in pageviews with spending of less than $750,000.

Cincinnati Change has several blogs:

Cincinnati Change General Information About US

Cincinnati Change Response to Hurricane Katrina & Rita It Says It All - help those in need

MBE's in the Nati Minority - The Business Journal on Cincinnati

Nati Action Agency - a community action agency just for the city using city money

Nati Water Working for Cincinnatians - it's worth 400M plus lets use it for us NOW

Uptown Security - we can run our own police force as well as own CPD it's in the city rules

X- Cincinnati Change was "born" this year

Cincinnati Change was incorporated Juneteenth 2005, June 19th 2005, as a not for profit organization. Development efforts, that succeeded and failed in 2005, set the state for the mission of Cincinnati Change. We will serve as an innovative, proactive partner in supporting comprehensive economic development, workforce needs creation along it's development, quality housing development that is lead free and environmentally safe, supportive of historic conservation efforts where they make sense, land use management based on creating a land trust for the city, supportive of creating in Cincinnati a worldwide arts and cultural amenities infrastructure that is a tourism destination and creation of a comprehensive human and social services infrastructure for all Cincinnati's citizens to be Nati Action Agency.

In 2005 Cincinnati Change bought interest in it's headquarters at 2439 Auburn Avenue in preparation for starting operations in February 2006. Cincinnati Change believes that the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person's dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored by each other and those who we elect.

Cincinnati Change believes in the equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability, including, if needed, timed affirmative action. Cincinnati Change believes in free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.

Cincinnati Change Proclamation on December 7th as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2005

A Proclamation by the Chairman of Cincinnati Change. On this day we celebrate a national remembrance for those lost on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. We at Cincinnati Change honor the courage of a generation of Americans who devoted themselves to one of the great missions in our country's history – global democracy and freedom.

After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor took more than 2,400 American lives, millions of our citizens answered the call to defend our liberty, and the world witnessed the power of freedom to overcome tyranny.

During this global fight for survival America's ultimate triumph was far from clear in the early days of World War II. When our country was attacked at Pearl Harbor as in Asia and Europe, country after country had fallen before the armies of militaristic tyrants. However, the brave and determined men and women of our Nation maintained their faith in the power of God to support our freedom and spread democracy.

They fought and won a world war against two of the most ruthless regimes the world has ever known. In the years since those victories, the power of freedom and democracy has transformed America's enemies in World War II into close friends. This is the greatness of America the ability to reach out it's hand in friendship to those who are our today our enimies as our friends tomorrow. Witness Japan and Germany.

Cincinnati Change is dedicated to the spread freedom and democracy around the world. We are a organization dedicated to secure a more peaceful world for our children and grandchildren. We are grateful to the men and women who are defending our flag and our freedom in the first war of the 21st century. We look forward to the days of peace like our forefathers have done in the past.

These patriots are protecting our country and our way of life by upholding the tradition of honor, bravery, and integrity demonstrated by those who fought for our Nation in World War II and that is continued to this day by our military.

The Congress, by Public Law 103-308, as amended, has designated December 7 of each year as "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day." The service and sacrifice of our World War II veterans continue to inspire people across our country and set an example of sacrifice. Cincinnati Change remains deeply grateful for all that these heroes have done for the cause of freedom.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this Seventh Day of December , in the year of our Lord two thousand five, and of the two hundred and thirtieth year in the Independence of the United States of America.

FREDERICK HARGROVE SENIOR
PE, MBA
Chairman of Cincinnati Change

A new start with new Mayor 1 December 2005

Mayor and City Council in Cincinnati

Our plan is based on this speech by the new mayor for development in the Nati.

Good Evening Cincinnati.
I want to thank everyone for joining me here at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal this evening to share this momentous occasion.

I want to start by thanking the people of Cincinnati for placing their trust in me to be their Mayor. I am honored and humbled by that trust and I will work hard to make you proud.

I would also like to thank (the categories on the back of the program).

I want to thank my staff.
And, I want to thank the countless volunteers who devoted so much of their time to our efforts to bring change to the city. I would not be here today without them.

Finally, I would like to thank my wonderful family for their support and sacrifice throughout the exhausting campaign. My entire family has been dedicated to public service, and they serve as my inspiration for all that I do.

The city of Cincinnati was named after the Society of the Cincinnati, a fellowship organization for Army officers. However, the top priority of the society was to take care of the members of the society and their families.

Their motto was “He abandons everything to serve his country.” Thus our city is founded on the ideals of taking care of each other and selfless service to the city.
I believe that these founding principles should serve as the basis for how we conduct our everyday lives.

Over the last year, as I visited every neighborhood in this City, I was always impressed by the sense of hope around the city.

Everywhere, people would share their feeling that things needed to get better, and how they truly believed things would get better.

The fantastic thing about living in a democracy is that citizens are able to let their opinions be heard and make changes if they think that we can do better.

Elections are an excellent opportunity to start fresh and set a new course for our city. On Election Day, Cincinnati called for a change in the way that business is done in our city.

The citizens selected four new City Council Members and elected me the first Mayor not to come from Council since the 1930s.
We have the opportunity to have the fresh start that our city has desperately needed for a while. We have the opportunity to turn away from our past and chart a course for a new future.

This is a great city. We need to seize this unique opportunity for a fresh start and recommit ourselves to the founding principles of our city: taking care of each other and selfless service to the city.

We have the power and ability to create the change that we all know our city needs.

We share that sense that we are all part of the same brotherhood. In order to make that feeling of brotherhood stronger, we need to focus on the issues that unite us as one Cincinnati.

The desire for nice, safe neighborhoods.
The desire for good schools and opportunities for our children.
The desire for good jobs with quality benefits
The desire for a vibrant city where we can all have fun.

If we focus on these issues of commonality, it will allow us to put aside our lesser differences and work together to improve our city for everybody.

I believe that we have all felt the enthusiasm in the community. There is a sense that we are about to turn a corner and once again move forward.

People are optimistic that the time is right for a major change in this city. People are ready for that change and they believe that it can and will happen.

I share this belief. I think that in the next few years, we have an incredible opportunity to transform our city for the better and set in motion the type of progress that will once again make Cincinnati a city that is admired across the country.

But, we cannot passively sit and wait for change, we must control our destiny. If we truly want to see change then we must actively make that change happen.

Our city has taken the first step. We have elected an excellent group of talented and motivated Council Members to help us take begin down the road of change.

From my discussions with the Council Members, I can tell you that they are deeply committed to doing what is necessary to turn this city around.

Now we must turn this positive energy and commitments into accomplishments.

Change is sometimes difficult but it is absolutely necessary. This Administration will make decisions that are in the best interest of the common good.

We must seize the opportunity that we have been given a make a fresh start. It is only through our hard work that we can make that change happen.

I am dedicated to creating a team on City Council that will come together to put the best interest of the city ahead of all else. The common element that unites all of the Council Members is that we love our city and we want very badly to make it better. Much better.

Now, I would like to recognize our next City Council.
Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell
Jeff Berding
Chris Bortz
Laketa Cole
John Cranley
David Crowley
Leslie Ghiz
Chris Monzel
Cecil Thomas

This leadership team you have entrusted to turn our city around. We are going to capitalize on the energy in this room and across the city and make the necessary changes to turn our city around and make it better.

You are looking at the future of the City of Cincinnati. I am completely confident that this team will do great things for all of us in the city of Cincinnati.

But we cannot do it along. You, the citizens of Cincinnati, are part of this team as well. If we are going to truly change our city for the better, we need your help as well. We can only make this city better if we work as a team, from the Mayor’s Office all the way down to very last citizen. All working to move the city forward.

So, I want to make a challenge to you. My challenge is to get involved and be an ambassador to the city.

You must ask yourself…
What are you going to do to turn Cincinnati around?
What are you going to do to make our city better?

We are on the verge of a great turn around in the City. By working together as a team, Mayor to Council to the city departments to the neighborhoods, and not letting anything get in our way, we can create the type of change and improvement that we all know that Cincinnati is ready for.

The 10 of us standing in front of you will work hard for you everyday. I ask you to commit yourself to also working hard. Together, I know that Cincinnati will live up to its amazing potential and become the city that our country looks up to once again.

I want to thank you all for coming. Good night and God Bless Our City

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory's Inaugural Address